#6 Eagles trounce Merrimack 6-2 to move into first place

Eagles sweep Merrimack with a 6-2 victory at Kelley Rink yesterday. The BC all frosh line of Mike Hardman, Alex Newhook and Matt Boldy led the way. BC moves into a 1st place tie with UMass Amherst but the Eagles have played one less game. The Eagles record moves to 19-8-1 overall. The recap is here.

Newhook drives to the goal and feeds Boldy for the first score

Since we give much well-deserved recognition to the point scorers-I want to sing the praises of some Eagle players who are playing great hockey.

Defensemen Mike Karow is emerging as one of the top Eagle Defenseman with his increased playing time. Karow was making plays all over the ice yesterday and recorded an assist by moving laterally to open up a shooting lane that resulted in Newhook’s third-period tally.

Mike Hardman (F) is becoming a huge physical force on the 2nd line as he is burying opponents on the forecheck. Hardman loves to attack the net along with Newhook and Boldy.

Freshman Marshall Warren continues to play excellent defense along with Seniors Jesper Matilla, Ben Finkelstein and Luke McInnis. I would like to see Warren receive more playing time on the BC powerplay unit as he is a terrific offensive playmaker. He can shoot and he can skate around traffic creating open passing lanes.

Jack McBain made a terrific sweeping move in the Friday night game that led to a Newhook goal. McBain is skating with Marc McLaughlin and Graham McPhee in what York calls his “MC-(pronounced Mick) line”. McLaughlin creates havoc with his speed on the forecheck and McBain is creating more offensive chances. I prefer we call it the “Southie” line but enjoy both nicknames!

Merrimack is not a bad team at all. They can skate and move the puck. The race for the Hockey East championship will not be decided until the final weekend of March 6-7. The final two games feature BC playing at UNH and BU hosting Northeastern. The Hockey East standings are here.

Brian Gionta/courtesy of Cawlidge Hockey

BC honored the great Brian Gionta by raising his jersey to the rafters during the intermission. Gionta was the most electrifying Eagle hockey player this writer has ever seen. York called him one of the three best all-time Eagle hockey players. Gionta scored 123 goals in his four seasons at BC-the best in team history.